CURRENT TOPICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 159, 5 January 1914, Page 4

CURRENT TOPICS.

THE MAKING OF ROADS. An observant Aueklaiider who toured England -and America recently has returned with some useful hints regarding the scientific laying down of roads and streets and the prevention of the dust nuisance. This traveller,, Mr. Charles' Rhodes, the Auckland director of the. W'aihi Gold Mining Company, wits particularly impressed by the immense pains taken by the road-making engineers in some purls of Great Britain and America in order to ensure dustlcss thoroughfares. The main roads he saw in, England and the United States were clean, hard and firm, and did not produce dust, was practically no dust in London, despite the enormous traffic. The, secret seemed to he thio use of tarred macadam, on concrete foundations. Ashphalt and -wood blocks were, also used, but practically nil tho good roads had n layer of -con-

ereto beneath the traffic surface. lu California, Mr. Rhodes saw a main < arterial thoroughfare being made, which is to extend from one end of the State to the other, and will be one thousand miles in length. He travelled over two hundred I'iiles of this • road, ,aud was much impressed by its appearance and it* quality. The construction was in tarred macadam upon concrete, a portion being concrete with merely a tin- and sand surface. This latter presented about three-eighths of an inch of resilient material between the wheels and the actual concrete bed. 'these roads no doubt are costly, but it ought to pay a community in the end to lay I down permanent traffic ways of such a satisfactory character. TOWN AND COUNTRY. The ill-feeling that was created between to.wn and country by the recent conflicts in Wellington has not yet died out. There may yet .be. an aftermath | that the farmers do not at present j recognise. An attempt is being made now to organise every class of country labor into unions of various descriptions. That movement may be a success, or it may be a failure. If the farmers deliberately organise a permanent staff for the special purpose of lighting labor the farmers will make a false move. It will be the error of their) lives, and they will give an impetus to a town v. country movement that will have deploraele results.—Eltham Argus. THE NAVAL QUESTION. The Dominion will not consent to pay such a subsidy to the Admiralty as will justify tho United Kingdom in keeping an adequate squadron in this ocean, but the Dominion will j 'cheerfully pay the same amount for a j "local navy," to be manned by New Zea-, .landers, to co-operate with, although .not subordinate to, the Australian "local navy," and to pass automatically under Imperial control at any outbreak of war. This is the proposal and the policy of the Massey administration. With every respect for tho sentiments and prejudices of all loyal Imperialists, i we believe that an earnest and impavi tial consideration of the situation will lead to the conclusion that the liberty of tho Dominion and the integrity of the Empire are both served by the pondi ing change in the local naval policy.— • Auckland Herald. 1 A RECUPERATIVE PEOPLE. Whall a marvellously recuperative people wo are in New Zealand has been demonstrated during the holiday season. For the last two m6uths there had been an immense drain upon pri- [ vale resources in "consequence of the ' disorganisation of trade and the back- - wardness of the season. And. yet, dtirl in the Christmas and Ne\v Year festivals the trains have been crowded with ' passengers, the sea-going boats laden l with human freight, the places of i amusement packed, and file pleasure re- ,. sorts alive with holiday-jaunters. It ' were almost impossible to believe that ' the cloud of depression which obscured >lthe horizon a wcok or two back could jjihave so quickly lifted. The fact rev I mains, however. The strike of 1913 is f la memory of the .past, and tho comniunt it;.- lias given itself up to the pleasures ) and responsibilities of life with an ■equanimity that is characteristic only of a virile people.--Wiararapa Age. t ~ SEEKING £15,000,000. s The Premier of Queensland, 'Mr. Den- , ham, left Sydney last month by the R.M.S. Oiisova, for England, on a quest ■ for .015,000,000 or more. In the next i fifteen months Queensland loans for that . amount will fall due, and the Premier will make a personal canvass for money 1 to replace them and also try to raise L ' three or four millions in addition for ex- . peiiditnre on agricultural development. "The factors of Australian prosperity," lie said, "are, first, rain, then railways, and, thirdly, renewals and reinforce- - ments of population through the cradles - and the ports. 'I am fully .sensible of 3 the gravity of the -mission with which 3 I am charged, and, further, T know full r well the soundness of our proposals. No , better could be offered through- . out the Empire. 1 sincerely hope that j the tone of the money market may be , a advantageous. Mv mission is of direct interest to every State ill the Comiiion- ' wealth, as, on the rates which will be charged for Queensland, loans will depend the prospects of* future loans to ■ other States. All roads lead to Rome, :• but nearly all Australia's problems lead j to Lombard street. Railways and population are bound together. The more 1 railways there are the more population i there will be. In England I shall press i the importance, of the iron road as a factor iu settlement and security."